A good colorist can transform a piece of inked or pencilled artwork into something special. The colorist takes light, shading, and color to create something unique. Colorists of today need many different skills, from technology to color theory. Today's colorist is an artist, theorist, and technology master and this list is for you. Special thanks goes to the guys at
Gutterzombie for their help on this list. Be sure to also check out the
general comic book resources guide that has links to sites covering the whole spectrum of comic creation.
See something we've missed? Drop us a line at comicbooks@aboutguide.com.
The home forum of colorist
Dave McCaig, this has become one of the best forums for colorists out there. The group is friendly, helpful, encouraging, and critical if need be. There are some tutorials, and line art that can be used to practice with, as well as places to showcase your work and get feedback. More importantly, it is a community of people that love coloring and comic books.
This is a fantastic book that will lead you through coloring comic books. It is one of the few books out on the market for coloring comic books so check it out.
This is a list of tutorials geared to helping you color comics on the computer, just as the title says. It is a bare bones site, but has lots of good info. There is information on equipment needed, scanning, scaling, files, and more.
Brian Haberlin, colorist of comics such as "Spawn," "Spider-Man," "Daredevil," and is also the co-creator of "Witchblade." Considered by Todd McFarlane to be the "Wayne Gretsky of color!" This is obviously someone who knows his stuff. This website is the storefront for tutorials by his studio, Haberlin Studios. There are a couple of freebies to download, so check those out first. If you like them, try the others. The costs are $25 for an instant download and $30 for a CD-ROM via mail.
This is a hobby/project website of Sean Ellery, a teacher from Perth, Australia. Now you may be asking, how can some guy from Perth help me be a better colorist? Well he has a fantastic gallery of lineart (inked or pencilled pages) that is ready for you to practice your coloring skills on. It is the perfect place to practice the skills you are learning, or to create things to showcase your skills.
This book will guide you through the basics of color theory. It will give you advice on color harmony, traditional color theory, mixing colors, and other concepts. A good start to the ideas of using colors to create art. Remember, a colorist is an artist, not a technician!
